1. Field of Art
The disclosure generally relates to the field of displaying content on web browsers executing on computing devices, and in particular to displaying video content on a web browser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Web browsers executing on mobile computing devices are used to display a variety of content retrieved over a network. For example, web browsers can be used to view photos, read news articles, play games, perform searches in search engines, etc. However, mobile web browsers typically also need plugins to display certain types of videos. For example, most browsers require an ADOBE FLASH plugin in order to render and display videos encoded in a FLASH format. Thus, mobile web browsers that do not have such plugins installed may not be able display videos encoded in FLASH format. Some operating systems executing on mobile devices may not permit plugins to operate and display certain video content on a mobile web browser. As such, users may be unable to watch videos provided on a webpage. In some instances, an operating system may provide another application to display videos encoded in certain formats. However, such an instance provides a cumbersome web browsing experience to a user as a user may have to switch between two or more applications to view a video and/or may not be able to view certain content displayed on a webpage.
Web services such a social networking systems and other applications that require heavy use of a network's resources are also becoming prevalent. Mobile device users typically access and view their social networking accounts using an application executing on the mobile device. However, users browsing a webpage on a mobile web browser typically have to close the web browser, end their browsing session and execute another application to view their social networking system data. As such, web browsers and social networking system applications may provide a poor user experience to a user who may want to view his or her social networking system data without interrupting or terminating his or her web browsing session.